Choosing The Best And Fastest Megabit Ethernet Internet Provider
For people who enjoy spending time on the internet, and also for those who work online, finding the fastest megabit ethernet provider can be very important. But it is typically not that easy to do. Providers do not want to tell you about their competitors and there is no central database of speeds and pricing.
Recently, the US federal government posted a website with an interactive broadband internet map. The project was supposed to illustrate the major ‘digital divide’ between people with and without access to high-speed internet, but many people have been using it for another purpose– if you give the interactive map your zip code or address, it can find the fastest internet provider in your area.
Access to speedy internet is limited by a number of factors. One of these is your physical location. Most urban areas are wired for cable television, which is the same system that cable internet uses, but some rural areas are not. And DSL comes over existing phone lines, but older phone lines are incapable of carrying enough data for speedy service in some cases.
Besides being susceptible to the ability of the phone lines to carry data, DSL speed also varies based on how far you are from the phone company. This means that it is not a very good choice for people living in rural areas far from their local phone company.
In general, cable is speedier than DSL, but the speeds of the two can overlap by quite a bit. Cable quality does not depend on distance from the provider, but it does depend on how many other users are online at the same time. Thus, many people with cable experience a slower internet connection during the evening hours, when people are at home and surfing the web.
Connecting to the internet with a satellite is a newer possibility that is mostly used for people living far off the beaten path. It is more expensive than either cable or DSL, and requires the purchase or rental of additional, fairly expensive equipment. But it provides internet access that is comparable to the fastest DSL speeds, and there is rarely a problem with too many users online, since this method of connection is relatively rare. Bad weather can hamper the connection however.
Increasingly, some places are being wired for fiber-optic cables, or FiOS. At the moment, these are mostly large cities. More expensive than all of the other options except satellite, FiOS is capable of speeds up to three times faster than DSL or cable. Actually, the speeds for FiOS systems are measured in megabits instead of bits, because it is so fast.
For a population of users that only want to check their email and perhaps do basic research occasionally, dial-up is an option. This method of connection has been decreasing in both price and popularity since faster connections have come to dominate the market, and dial-up service can now be purchased extremely cheaply. However, it has no place on a list of ‘fastest’ internet providers, as it is extremely slow even compared to low-speed DSL, the next slowest option.
Finding a reliable Megabit Ethernet service provider is not hard when you know where to look for them. If you are considering to get Megabit Ethernet connections for your business, review the information available on our website to find out more.
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